BREAKING: US Marine Jon Hammar Released From Mexican Prison – Back on US Soil

Jon Hammar, a former Marine held in Mexico on gun charges, has been in a Mexican prison for four months on what is being called a trumped-up federal weapon charge. He was arrested Aug. 13 in Matamoros after he declared to Mexican customs agents a shotgun he planned to use for hunting in Costa Rica. He’s been held in jail since August and chained to a bed.

Jon Hammar survived wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is now up in a prison in Mexico. (CBS)

On Thursday, Bill O’Reilly and two US Republican Representatives threatened a boycott of Mexico if Jon Hammar was not released by Christmas.

Jon Hammar was released from prison in Mexico on Friday night.
He is with his father in Texas.FOX News reported:

The ordeal for Jon Hammar Jr., who languished under deplorable conditions in a violent Mexican prison for four months, is finally over.

Jon Hammar Sr. has confirmed that his 27-year-old son, a Marine combat veteran, is back on U.S. soil and with him in a rented car in Brownsville, Texas.

Hammar Sr. said his son was released from the notorious CEDES prison at 8 p.m. local time and made it back across the bridge between Matamoros, Mexico and Brownsville, Texas by around 8:30 p.m.

The ex-Marine, who was arrested at the same border crossing Aug. 13 after attempting to declare an antique shotgun, was suffering from a stomach virus, his father told Fox News as he and his son drove from the border looking for a hotel to spend the night.

…of course the shotgun is gone and his new pickup, too. The Commandante Policia where he was arrested is now using his pickup for his own personal vehicle. Usually the police bigwigs murder Gringos Touristas if they need new transportation or if they just see a vehicle they like. Don’t think I’m kidding, this type of thing is all too common below the border.

There’s only two things that need to be said about this incident: 1) To Mr Hammar: Don’t go back there. 2) To other Americans contemplating a visit to Mexico: Don’t go there.

Ghost

Welcome Home and Merrrry Christmas, Marine.
Thank You for reaffirming what I’ve always known- DON’T GO to MEXICO,
nice ruins, bad society… and water

Highlander

It amazes me that our State Department let this go on for as long as they did. Their primary responsibility should be coming to the aid of American citizens in situations like this. It’s outrageous to think that this guy could have been down there for years if O’Reilly and others hadn’t ramped up the pressure on the Mexican government. The State Department should also be working on getting his property back for him as well, but I won’t be holding my breath on that …

This country’s government has become a source of embarrassment for us all. It’s time for a MAJOR house cleaning if you ask me … .

Highlander

#9 – One other thing to be said: Stay the hell out of OUR country ….

AuntieMadder

@ Highlander #11: There was a time that American citizenship was like an invisible, protective shield in other countries…except Mexico. Being jailed indefinitely in Mexico and for no good reason has always been a risk for American citizens traveling across the US-Mexico border. Flying or cruising (as in on a cruise line) into one the tourist towns and all is a-okay. Driving or walking across the border, on the other hand, has always been a crap shoot. That isn’t to say that the State Dept shouldn’t have worked harder (or worked at all) to get this Marine back on US soil sooner…just as they should have worked to get the many teenaged girls and boys who’ve died in Mexican jails back home, too. It’s always been a problem.

American Woman

Glad you are home for Christmas< Marine. Stay safe and don't EVAH go back there. (So sorry you had to endure what you did.)

Michelle Bachmann has made the case that the Obama Administration and especially the State Dept is filled with Islamic Fascists. Think they did this on purpose, just like Benghazi? Or was Obama calling the shots?

Blacque Jacques Shellacque

It’s time for a MAJOR house cleaning if you ask me …

That chance passed about a month and a half ago.

BigAlSouth

Oh yeah, this had absolutely NOTHING to do with Fast and Furious retaliation. Absolutely nothing . . .

corgiacres

“Bill O’Reilly and TWO US Republican Representatives” threatened a boycott…where the hello were the rest of our so called Congress? Or at least a few Democrats? Where have they all been for the last four months?

dba_vagabond_trader

Thank you for some much needed good news and bravo to those who worked to free the young man.

suzanne

Too bad it took FOX News to get this man released!!!! Where was the government help?

Gee whiz, we all know how strict Mexico is with weapons laws. Mexican authoritys after hundreds of murders by drug cartels need to focus on one American with bolt action shotgun.
Seems a no brainer, Mexican authorities just being the honest and honorable law of NO ONE CAN HAVE A WEAPON. SEEMS to work great, just ask the thousands of murdered Mexicans in Mexico. Notice in the US one has NOT that problem with mass graves and executions.

Mexico works for you.

bear

Stayed at a very nice hotel on my first (and last) family trip to mehico. The security everywhere we went was conspicuous, including the military. The hotel and beach security were all ex-military.

When a cruise ship pulled in it looked as though a battalion-sized military exercise was going on. There were full squads patrolling the streets.

That kind of presence is there for a reason, and I worried about my wife, son and other relatives the whole time.

When my son asked me why we had to check in and out of the grounds with the security folks and wear a wristband I told him it was so they would know where to deliver the bodies. My son laughed at the “joke,” but my brother (also a vet) winked and nodded.

Although my brother and I have each been out of the country a number of times, neither one of us had seen anything like this.

I will never take my family into another situation like that. mehico can kiss my butt.

There is obviously more to this story than has been told. Why would the Mexican government be so obtuse, even to the ambassadorial level, to refuse the release of Hammar. I suspect it was a case of political pressure by Mexico to gain concessions from the US government. Possibly it involved Fast and Furious, possibly not.

No matter what the cause, Bill O’Reilly did far more than our State Department to get results. To hell with Hagel, Bill O’Reilly should be our next Sectretary of State.

Tom Kubiak, Colonel, USAF (Ret)

Watch the Obamanator and Hillanator take credit for his release. They are useless pieces of flesh.

bad actor

Just where the Hell was our Ambassador to Mexico, Earl Anthony Wayne, in all this? Isn’t that one of their jobs – to help Americans in distress?

wtd

Welcome home! Merry Christmas and wishes for a healthy, safe and prosperous new year, Sir.

So happy for the Hammar family. Hope they have the best Christmas ever.

Susan Daniels

I think it was incredibly stupid of him to take a gun across the border. I don’t care what his intentions were, he put himself in harms way by doing something like that. I am relieved that he was finally released by why would he do it to start with?

drunksailor

We should have traded him for a few million greasy illegal mexicans.

JDStone

Pretty sad it took Bill O’reilly and Fox News to get that Marine out of Mexico.The most worthless
President and Administration EVER!!!

Sasja

Merry Christmas Marine! God’s blessings to you and your family.

Mitch Rapp

Sounds like Mexican Jails would be a good place for a lof of our distinguished Politicians that trade legislation for campaign moneys.

Look at the SANDY HELP bill and how much pork is in it Suppose we put the porkers into Mexican Jails for rehabilitation – I bet pork futures would go downhill fast.

Obama would be in a Mexican Jail reciting the names of the solar panel companies that provided him with campaign funds for loan guarantees

SeaBass

Please stop bashing our dear leader. He and the administration had no choice but protect their monopoly on guns going into Mexico. Lesson for all of us.

valerie

I’m glad he’s back.

How ’bout that gun control in Mexico? I can’t say the US government (well, the executive branch, anyway, including the ATF and State) has been helpful in the least.

Right now it seems like WordPress is the preferred blogging platform available right now.
(from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?

YourMaster

did they swap 0bama for jon hammar?

they could even waterboard obama for free
and he could have all the gay sex with illegal mexicans, camels, and even arabs that he wanted in those prisons. …it would be win/win for everyone.

Roux

Boycott Mexico anyway. My cousins live near Nogales in southern Arizona. 20 years ago it was a quaint Mexican tourist town. The last time a family member visited they were selling children on the side of the road.